This invention relates to pellet fueled smoke generators that may be used to supply smoke to a smoker cabinet or a BBQ unit to flavor or preserve food. Although many food smokers have a smoke source within the cabinet, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,510 and patent application Ser. No. 12/432,568, other smokers use external wood pellet fueled smoke generators to supply smoke to a food-containing smoker cabinet. Examples of such external smoke generators are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,681,493; 6,705,213; 4,232,597; and 3,788,3201; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/303,405. Smoke from wood fuel pellets includes carbon dioxide, water vapor and creosote. It is the creosote which imparts the smoky flavor to the food and helps to preserve the food. Some of the smoke generators listed above employ hoppers to store the fuel pellets above the combustion area such that the pellets will fall from the hopper into the combustion area. Several disadvantages are associated with this arrangement. As smoke rises from the fuel combustion area into the pellet storage hopper, creosote is deposited on the cool walls of the hopper. On occasion the pellets will form a bridging matrix that prevents pellets from falling into the combustion area.
The present invention discloses an improved apparatus for generating smoke for food preservation and flavor from wood based fuel pellets. The apparatus includes an enclosure having a fuel storage area and a combustion chamber. An operating rod extends into the fuel storage area and is attached to a movable partition dividing the fuel storage area and/or movable fuel agitator.